A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a garbage disposal, and more particularly to a garbage disposer unit for use in food industries to replace motorized disposers that have become an environmentally harmful way to dispose of food wastes.
B. Description of Related Art
Restaurant food waste from rinsed dirty dishes is an environmental problem. Although garbage disposers are highly efficient at disposing of food waste at a high rate, unfortunately they have various problems. Drain waste has the potential to create public health hazards. Excessive food service waste can overburden community wastewater systems and consequently, the oceans and streams of our natural environment. In this regard, the currently popular powered garbage disposers are problematic. Heavy-duty disposers have a high initial cost and maintenance with lost operation time at busy restaurants when they need fast dish washing with food disposal. Some cities such as Irvine, Calif. have banned garbage disposers because of the environmental awareness that the motorized disposers basically excrete food waste in a slurry state to the rivers and public facilities where it is difficult to be recycled into potable water.
Thus, the food waste will eventually end up in the ocean where it can cause bacteria blooms and other environmental disasters.
One alternative to the garbage disposer is a strainer system to catch food waste from rinsed dirty dishes. Strainers built into the piping system have been used for more than a hundred years. U.S. Pat. No. 495,998 shows a sink trap design patented in 1893, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. A larger unit is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 960,901 to Hall for a trap for kitchen sinks patented in 1910, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Hall shows a top strainer removable for cleaning and a bottom strainer. A horizontal line strainer was invented by Buker as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,915,188 patented in 1957, the disclosure which is incorporated herein by reference. The Buker device allows a continuous horizontal flow having a removable screen. A more recent improvement is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,351 to Peterson patented Aug. 30, 1977, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The Petersen device has a removable strainer mounted below a sink. While the previously cited patented inventions may help with household drain straining, they are not well suited to a high flow restaurant type of environment. They also have inconvenient design features that would not allow their use as a replacement of a garbage disposer.
U.S. application Ser. No. 11/285,520 filed by the present inventor and incorporated in its entirety herein by reference discloses a garbage disposer replacement unit that is fixed under a kitchen sink where an electric disposer has left. The garbage disposer replacement unit includes a pre-rinse basket with food waste straining holes. The unit comprises a main body housing a tray slidingly suspended that retains small particles food waste via fine bottom perforations. The tray has a top opening larger than a drain diameter of an existing bus bowl in a kitchen. A plastic clip disc pairs with top clip members to clip the main body onto bus bowl flanges. A clip disc drain adapter adjusts and adapts the unit's outlet to different drain diameters of existing bus bowl fixtures. The clip disc and top clip members constitute a clip assembly for adjustably clipping the unit main body to the given drain flange. Optionally, a four-legged riser replaces the clip assembly to attach to the unit main body top for bus bowls with a flangeless standard drain fitting.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/494,422 of the present inventor suggested an alternative garbage disposer replacement unit comprising a drainage means fitted to one or more sink for transporting food wastes to a sewer system, a self-standing main body connected in series with the drainage means, the main body having a reservoir and a number of legs for supporting the main body above a floor. The trash interceptor has a large top opening and a centrally opened adaptor plate to redefine the top opening to fit with the drainage means for the existing sinks in the kitchen.
This trash interceptor still has a room for improvement to adapt to more varied kitchen space for a heightened workflow and less maintenance by the users.
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a garage disposer replacement unit that can be installed immediately in place of a motorized disposer unit using a simple installation means.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a kitchen sink trash interceptor structure that is easily adaptable to different fixture devices to promote a swift transition to manage food waste more environmentally friendly.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a clip-on device for installation of a detachable under-sink trash interceptor, which clip-on device is easily adaptable to various existing drain sizes of the sink fixture.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a screw-on trash interceptor for a swift installation of a detachable under-sink unit to the sink fixture, which has standard existing drain fittings.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved floor trash interceptor that does not require a special fixture to the sink.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a means for simply adapting the trash interceptor to fit different diameters of the drainage system of individual kitchens.